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Alternative Funding Network |
Andy’s Blogs
Without education, we're stupid 58% of all children leave school or college without having had any financial education. These young adults face important decisions - paying bills, whether or not to have a credit card, taking on student loans, renti read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont
24 Feb 2017 18:46
For the next Alternative Funding Network seminar, on Thursday March 16th, we're bringing together a group of companies that are working to change the way corporate supply chains are funded, using different takes on Supply Chain Finance. CLICK HE read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
21 Feb 2017 08:50
It's January. It's cold, wet and miserable. The gyms are packed with people who are starting as they have absolutely no intention of carrying on. And economists are caveating their predictions with everything they've got - whilst trying (an read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont
18 Jan 2017 17:59
: http://www.foxwilliams.com/fintech.html 2016 – undeniably a turbulent year in all respects. Whilst we can’t predict the economic impact of triggering Article 50 and the incoming US administration, we can at least predict some of the legal read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
18 Jan 2017 17:12
: http://www.foxwilliams.com/fintech.html The last month has been notably buoyant in support for the UK FinTech industry. The Autumn Statement announced a number of initiatives geared towards encouraging the continued growth of FinTech in the UK. read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
01 Dec 2016 23:14
Regulation is defined as “a law, rule, or other order prescribed by authority, especially to regulate: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/regulate conduct.” And conduct is a really human thing… which is why I found a recent lecture by Dr Mike Walk read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont
01 Dec 2016 23:32
Dr Louise Beaumont, Guest Blog - Squaring the circle - reconciling Brexit with Capital Markets Union
Brexit, as we all know, means Brexit That's it, we're off - so long, and thanks for all the fish(1). Looks like Prime Minister May's going to have to go to Parliament first though, as those pesky High Court judges have said that royal prerogativ read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont
07 Nov 2016 12:02
: http://www.foxwilliams.com/fintech.html There were a couple of interesting news items this month that caught our attention. One being the speech given by Jonathan Davidson, the current Director of Supervision – retail and authorisations at the read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
01 Nov 2016 14:12
: http://www.foxwilliams.com/fintech.html Regulating Crowdfunding 2.0 – What can we expect? Over the summer the FCA released a consultation paper calling for input about the current crowdfunding rules (both debt and equity) that the FCA sho read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
06 Oct 2016 09:02
: https://www.glifinance.com/ Moving beyond the ‘Brexit means Brexit’ mantra Post-Brexit planning is ramping up as the Government starts to map out what ‘Brexit’ actually means for sectors ahead of the formal start of negotiations. Such clar read more
05 Oct 2016 11:55
: http://www.foxwilliams.com/fintech.html I’m sure you’re fed up of hearing about the potential implications of Brexit and the FCA’s recent call for input on crowdfunding (if not, I’d be happy to discuss!), so I thought I would look ahe read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
15 Aug 2016 00:39
Just after the Brexit vote on June 23, some of the largest commercial property funds told their investors that they would not be able to sell up and get their cash back, at least temporarily. These funds, popular with many retail investors and their a read more
Author
Andy Davis, AFN Programme Director
01 Aug 2016 18:50
Dr. Louise Beaumont, Guest Blog - Scale, specialists and the squeezed middle of the alt-fi arms race
: http://www.glifinance.com/ It has been an interesting time of late for the alternative finance sector. Like all parts of financial services, the industry is coming to terms with the post-referendum landscape and what the Brexit decision me read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont, GLI Finance
20 Jul 2016 20:21
Legal Implications of Brexit On 24 June 2016, the EU Referendum result was announced, with a majority of voters deciding that the UK should leave the EU. Once the government officially triggers its right to leave under Article 50 of the Treaty read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
11 May 2016 12:20
: http://www.glifinance.com/ 6 interesting things about creativity I read a great article by James Kaufman in the Royal Society for the Arts magazine recently. Great because I now have a new perspective on a much-discussed ‘good thi read more
Author
Dr. Louise Beaumont, GLI Finance
11 May 2016 12:08
Latest changes to P2P regulation – ISAs, Advice and Client Monies The FCA has been busy these past few weeks, issuing proposals for Innovative Finance ISAs, advising on P2P agreements and client monies. Innovate Finance ISAs The fir read more
Author
Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams
18 Feb 2016 12:46
: http://www.glifinance.com/ Lord Turner’s scepticism is a helpful reminder of the need for greater industry maturation At the core of any successful industry is trust. Trust underpins confidence and is vital if an industry is to gro read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont, GLI Finance
18 Feb 2016 12:43
There’s been a lot written about regulation of P2P lending firms – indeed it was the topic of our final AFN Research Seminar of 2015 in December – and many are now well into the process of applying to the Financial Conduct Authority for authorisation. read more
Author
Andy Davis
01 Feb 2016 12:58
FCA announces new Regulatory Sandbox The Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) has set out its plans: https://www.fca.org.uk/static/documents/regulatory-sandbox.pdf to expand Project Innovate by implementing a “regulatory sandbox” – a “saf read more
Author
Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams
16 Dec 2015 11:10
Britain is the acknowledged pioneer in online alternative finance, with many firsts to its name in both P2P, or marketplace, lending as well as in equity crowdfunding. In a number of important areas, however, the US has been ahead of the UK for a whil read more
Author
Andy Davis
09 Dec 2015 10:59
: http://www.glifinance.com/ A Blessing of Unicorns…? I was in the US recently, and there was much talk of Unicorns. So much so, in fact, that I felt the need to put fingers to keyboard. What is a unicorn, and why are peop read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont, GLI Finance
01 Dec 2015 12:40
At the end of last month, P2P lending platforms had to submit their paperwork to the Financial Conduct Authority in order to gain permission to continue operating after April next year. At that point, the interim permissions that the FCA granted to ev read more
Author
Andy Davis
23 Nov 2015 13:03
Ever since Funding Circle announced in late July that it planned to list an investment trust on the Stock Exchange that would participate in every loan advanced across its international set of platforms – now including Continental Europe, of co read more
Author
Andy Davis
12 Nov 2015 12:06
There are no two ways about it – the regulatory landscape in the financial services sector is evolving and the news in recent months has been awash with stories of regulatory changes that are likely to have a significant impact on FinTech and Alternat read more
Author
Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams
10 Nov 2015 10:18
If you bank with Barclays and you want a personal loan, there’s a good chance the bank will have “pre-approved” you on the basis of your record as a customer and will be able to show you instantly how much you can borrow and at what interest rate. The read more
Author
Andy Davis
28 Oct 2015 10:57
: http://www.glifinance.com/ Fret not – we have solid domestic demand in the UK I attended Ernst & Young ITEM Club’s Autumn Forecast recently, and their Chief Economic Adviser, Peter Spencer was quick to let us know that the markets read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont, GLI Finance
26 Oct 2015 15:24
Evidence of collaboration between alternative finance providers and banks continues to pile up. Last week Seedrs, the UK’s second-largest equity crowdfunding platform, announced a tie-up with the Belgian arm of the Dutch bank ING. This will see compan read more
Author
Andy Davis
19 Oct 2015 15:30
LendInvest, the short-term mortgage specialist, has just put out profit figures for the year to March 31, 2015, and pretty impressive they are too: £3.1m pre-tax on revenues of £15m. The platform also provided figures for the previous year, showing pr read more
Author
Andy Davis
12 Oct 2015 16:32
Some very interesting annual statistics have recently emerged from the British Venture Capital Association, in the shape of its annual Report on Investment Activity. As the UK Business Angels Association notes in its newsletter, the latest data show v read more
Author
Andy Davis
05 Oct 2015 11:45
The AFN event last week looking at how alternative and conventional finance are starting to work together turned up a lot of interesting views from our panel of six expert practitioners. This is a subject we’ll definitely be returning to, but reflecti read more
Author
Andy Davis
29 Sep 2015 13:34
Two data releases came out last week that deserve the attention of anyone interested in SME finance – and especially anyone who like me has been struck by the ongoing disappearance of the small business overdraft. The steady drop in the number of over read more
Author
Andy Davis
04 Sep 2015 16:01
Changes are afoot in the UK tax regime for participants in loans made via peer-to-peer (“P2P”) platforms. The government has recognised that existing tax rules are not fit for purpose when it comes to the new business model of lending P2P and so is co read more
Author
Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams
01 Oct 2015 08:59
Today’s announcement by Funding Circle that – just after turning five – it will shortly move from using reverse auctions to offering only fixed-rate loans will be seen as a watershed for all sorts of reasons. The idea of creating an “eBay for finance read more
Author
Andy Davis
02 Sep 2015 11:58
Congratulations, first, to Zopa for passing the major milestone of lending a cumulative £1bn in the 10 years since its launch. It’s obviously a big moment for the P2P movement and, given that we now know which was the first UK platform to top £1bn, mi read more
Author
Andy Davis
24 Aug 2015 14:42
The rush of institutional money into the P2P lending market has arguably been the big news for the movement this year and it’s clear that professional investors are now responsible for a fair proportion of the growth in overall lending. But with the I read more
Author
Andy Davis
17 Aug 2015 16:30
Source: http://www.foxwilliams.com/news/1077/ We are delighted to welcome Jonathan Segal as a regular contributor to our AFN news and blogs. Jonathan is a lawyer partner at City law firm Fox Williams who specialises in FinTech and Alternative Fina read more
Author
Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams
01 Oct 2015 09:00
Is the world of alternative finance about to go quiet for the summer holidays? That’s anybody’s guess but you might well think so, given the burst of activity during the last week of July. Equity crowdfunding platforms Crowdcube and Seedrs both raised read more
Author
Andy Davis
03 Aug 2015 16:45
How big is the potential market for P2P lending to businesses? Today, Funding Circle and ThinCats, the two largest business lending platforms, have £475.67m and £78m respectively of loans outstanding. The major banks’ stock of lending to smaller busin read more
Author
Andy Davis
13 Jul 2015 12:03
I took part last week in a discussion organised by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, a well-connected City think tank, on equity crowdfunding, at which there was much discussion of the risks of equity crowdfunding for retail investors. read more
Author
Andy Davis
30 Jun 2015 10:20
News last week that Wall Street’s premier investment bank, Goldman Sachs, is working on the launch of an online lending platform that will target consumers and small businesses has prompted plenty of comment to the effect that “there goes alternative read more
Author
Andy Davis
22 Jun 2015 10:49
As promised last week, I’m going to return to the subject of rising interest rates in a moment, but first for those interested in equity crowdfunding I should mention a lunchtime roundtable on June 23rd that is being organised by the Centre for the St read more
Author
Andy Davis
16 Jun 2015 12:12
One of the more frequent criticisms levelled against P2P lending by sceptics is the suggestion that it exists only because interest rates are so extraordinarily low. Once rates move up, they suggest, it will be game over for the P2P movement, which in read more
Author
Andy Davis
11 Jun 2015 11:47
How do banks make money? There are lots of plausible answers to this question. They pay 0.2% on deposits and lend at 4%-plus, for a start. Or they take a small quantity of their own funds, add loads of borrowed money and use the debt to amplify the re read more
Author
Andy Davis
31 May 2015 11:14
One subject that seems to come up in almost every conversation I have about alternative finance at the moment is institutional money. The mention of it produces a fair range of reactions but there’s no doubt that, for one reason or another, it’s on mo read more
Author
Andy Davis
25 May 2015 14:17
For anyone involved in receivables finance, last week’s trading update from Tungsten offered some interesting snippets to consider and as an early-stage equity investor in the invoice trading and supply chain finance provider Platform Black, I count m read more
Author
Andy Davis
15 May 2015 16:40
At lunch with the CEOs of two alternative finance providers last week, conversation naturally turned to one of the most intriguing unknowns in the peer-to-peer world – how exactly is the nation’s favourite retail investment platform, Hargreaves Lansdo read more
Author
Andy Davis
08 May 2015 17:55
In a week of big numbers, the standout figure has to be the £250m financing line agreed between Landbay, an online P2P lender specialising in buy-to-let mortgage lending, and an unnamed British bank in partnership with a European asset manager. As Lan read more
Author
Andy Davis
05 May 2015 13:53
There’s an interesting deal running on the Syndicate Room platform at the moment that hints at a new set of possibilities for online equity crowdfunding. If my instincts about the implications of this deal are on the right track, the opportunities bot read more
Author
Andy Davis
27 Apr 2015 11:03
Established systems have a habit of managing to absorb and assimilate innovative newcomers – how else, after all, would these systems end up becoming established? This familiar process is under way now as the world of alternative finance meets the wor read more
Author
Andy Davis
20 Apr 2015 14:21
